New clause by Airbnb prevents hosts from discrimination

IllustrationRavi jadhavA letter sent last week by Airbnb to all its members has driven a wedge through the online homestay networkrsquos Mumbai community The letter stated that all its members would henceforth have to comply with its new Community Commitment policy As per the revised policy which went live on November 1 members have to take a vow to treat everyone with ldquorespect and without judgement or bias irrespective of race religion national origin ethnicity disability sex gender identity sexual orientation or agerdquo Refuse to accept the ldquocommitmentrdquo and your request to host or make a booking will be turned downWhile many Mumbaikars have welcomed the antidiscrimination policy as a progressive step there are others who justify the profiling of guestsA good startIn its revised commitment form Airbnb pointed out that the new clause was a direct result of the flood of complaints it received over discrimination based on caste gender colour and sex Reports of racial discrimination were so high that it also led to the creation of alternative multiple shortterm rental platforms specifically aimed at and created by people of colourldquoI think the new Community Commitment is a good idea to stop racism If people want to screen and choose then they should not be on Airbnbrdquo says Rahul Varma 38 whose 1BHK flat in Shivaji Park has seen over 100 bookings in over two years ldquoDiscrimination in India has reached dizzying heights Even in a city like Mumbai which claims to be forward thinking we still find people who are judgemental conservative or racist Some of them donrsquot allow nonvegetarians in their buildings others rent their property out to only a specific caste Single women also find it extremely difficult to find someone who would leaserent them their house in the cityrdquoMessy IndiansA hard look at the Airbnb community reveals that the city follows its own brand of profiling ldquoWe avoid Indians because they create a lot of messrdquo says Ashish Bansal who coowns the apartment with VarmaldquoFor some reason Indians fail to grasp the concept of Airbnb They donrsquot understand that yoursquore living in someone elsersquos home and not a hotel and tend to treat us like domestic help ordering us around Most Indians ask way too many questions beforehand and even expect room servicerdquo he points out ldquoSometimes they also leave used condoms around our apartmentrdquo Bansal says he has now opted for a filter on Airbnb welcoming only those guests who want to book the space for two days or more ldquoso that young people donrsquot treat the apartment as a place where they can come for quickiesrdquoVarma though has no problem with such guests ldquoIf the price of being a member on Airbnb is that I have to deal with used condoms strewn all over the place then so be itrdquo he shrugsBitter experiencesDivesh Gupta a Parelbased host feels differently In the last three years of his property being registered on Airbnb Gupta has had two unpleasant encounters The first involved a black man who was picked up by the police The police officials later accused Gupta of sheltering a drug dealer The other involved a single woman of foreign nationality At the time his neighbours raised objections claiming that it ldquodidnrsquot look goodrdquo to have a single woman in his flatSince then Gupta has made it a point to not accommodate either of the profiles ldquoI will continue to follow the same kind of screeningrdquo he insists ldquoI donrsquot want to be in a position where the police come over and grill me Irsquom okay with my account being suspended because Irsquom not on Airbnb to make moneyrdquoPaying the priceBut whatrsquos the penalty for failing to toe the line A host who posts a listing with discriminatory language will be forced to edit the listing or face temporary suspension of account Simply refusing a rental to someone is also grounds for potential suspensionAccording to a New York Magazine article there are ways for people to use legal methods to reject guests those travelling with pets or smokers It also referred to the new policy as ldquonot a perfect systemhellip which wonrsquot fix all of Airbnbrsquos issuesrdquoWhen midday reached out to Airbnb it said its country representative wasnrsquot available for commentsAll names have been changed on request